The present invention relates to cooking racks for holding food product to be placed in an oven, and in particular, to a cooking rack for deflecting grease draining from the food.
Commercial “pan capacity” ovens or cabinets for cooking or warming food product are commonly used by food service establishments that prepare large quantities of food. These ovens typically allow for vertical stacking of multiple sheet pans or racks for cooking or warming. These units aid in high-volume operations to increase an operation's efficiency and speed of service.
Some food products, when cooked, produce significant quantities of grease or food drippings which may be allowed to drain away from the food and to be captured by a drip collection tray positioned at the bottom of the oven. The drip collection tray funnels the collected grease to a drain line to allow gravity draining of the grease into a grease collection container for disposal. Some ovens provide inclined grease collection panels positioned at the floor of the oven that direct the grease directly to a drain line for automatically delivering the grease to a grease collection container for disposal. By allowing the grease to drain away from the food, the cooking of the food is improved, the risk of smoking and combustion from the grease is decreased, and the need for personnel to handle hot grease when removing the food product is reduced. It is understood that “grease” as discussed in the present application may relate to food drippings or other fat and juices released from the food during cooking.